1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a network facsimile system that transmits/received images to/from an external device in accordance with a facsimile data transmission protocol.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a facsimile system in which a facsimile image is transmitted from an origin station to a destination station via a relaying server has been known. In such a system, the relaying server receives the facsimile image from the origin station and transmits the same to the destination station.
United States Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2002/0069254 A1 discloses a method for an e-mail transmission control. According to this publication, the server receives an e-mail message transmitted from an origin station. The e-mail message contains a telephone number of the destination, and the server identifies the e-mail address of the destination based on the telephone number and transfer the e-mail message to the destination. Therefore, even if a user at the origin station does not know the entail address of the destination, the e-mail message can be sent to the destination. Thus, when a facsimile image is transmitted as an attachment of the e-mail message, the user at the origin station can send the facsimile image with the disclosed system similarly to a case where a normal facsimile machine is used.
United States Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2003/0048484 A1 discloses a facsimile machine capable of transmitting an e-mail message containing information regarding transmission/reception/transfer of a facsimile transmission. According to the facsimile machine as disclosed, the information regarding the transmission of the facsimile image can be notified to a user. Therefore, the user can take necessary steps in connection with the facsimile transmission.
When a facsimile transmission is performed between two facsimile machines through a telephone line, a transmission condition is generally indicated on a display of each facsimile machine. For example, on the transmitting side facsimile machine, messages such as “dialing”, “transmitting”, “transmission completed” or “transmission error” are displayed depending on the current transmission status. Further, if the facsimile machine has a redialing function, a status “redial standby state” or “redialing” may be displayed. On the destination facsimile machine, a message “receiving”, “reception completed” or “reception (transmission) error” is displayed, depending on the current status of the facsimile machine.
According to the conventional network facsimile system described above, that is, the facsimile image is transmitted by e-mail through the relaying server, the following deficiencies arise. Firstly, the user at the origin station can know the transmission status from the origin communication terminal to the relaying server, but cannot know the status from the relaying server to the destination station in real time. Secondly, the user of the destination station can know the transmission status from the relaying server to the destination communication terminal, but cannot know the status from the origin station to the relaying server in real time. Therefore, even if the transmission from the origin station to the relaying server is completed successfully, there could be a case where an error occurs in the transmission from the relaying server to the destination station. In such a case, the user of the origin station may note not realize the occurrence of the error, which would not occur in the normal facsimile system. Further, when an error occurs in the transmission from the relaying server to the destination, it is recognized by the user of the destination station. However, if an error occurs in the transmission from the origin station to the relaying server, the user of the destination station would not know the attempt of transmission directed to the destination station, which would not occur in the normal facsimile system.
As above, according to the conventional network facsimile system, the users need to take the existence of the relaying server into account when transmitting facsimile images.